This past December, I was grateful to be a part of a series of poem videos that were released to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement. Five years ago, I was in Paris attending COP21, performing poetry on climate change alongside other poet activists while our RMI delegation which included late Senator and Minister of… Read More
Bulldozed Reefs and Blasted Sands: Rituals for Artificial Islands
Iakwe aolep – it’s been a while since my last blog post. Last year was hectic and instead of updating my blog alongside my social media I fell off the map after my journey to Enewetak. So to kick off this year’s blog posts I’d like to focus on coming to terms with a new piece of advice given to… Read More
A Moment of Clarity – Why I’m going to Paris COP21
If you’ve been following this blog you might have seen my past posts struggling with this new role I inherited as a “climate change poet” since my performance at the United Nations Climate Summit last September. All last year I fought with myself as I considered what this role, what these responsibilities, would now mean. I’ve always embraced my role… Read More
Birthing a Manuscript, Birthing for Real
This past week I took my first few tentative steps towards putting together my manuscript – a pretty big deal considering how long I’ve wanted to publish my own book of poetry. It’s taken me a while to reflect on all of this, though, because besides preparing to give birth to my first manuscript, I’m also preparing to give birth… Read More
Video Interview on Olelo TV
So this is a bit late but I was interviewed this past summer by my friend Joachim “Jojo” Peter and filmed by another friend, Leonard “Leni” Leon, for their show “Micronesian Connections.” This is a really awesome show that generally features thoughtful interviews facilitated by Jojo with a focus on Micronesian leaders and Micronesian issues. I have a lot of respect for… Read More
Diabetes, World War II, and a new poem
This week, I’ll be spotlighting a poem I wrote a few weeks back that centers around two topics: World War II and diabetes. So how are these two topics linked exactly? First, let me describe my relationship to diabetes. Like many Micronesians, if I was told to think of my cultural foods, the comfort food that I grew up with, I… Read More